This project examines the effects of New Hope, a comprehensive anti-poverty program, on children's cumulative risk. Most studies examine risk as a predictor of developmental outcomes; these studies consider risk itself as an outcome. The studies use data from an experimental evaluation of the New Hope project. Families were surveyed two and five years after random assignment. A subset of families were also selected to participate in an ethnography that spanned the period between the two surveys. Study 1, utilizing quantitative analyses of survey data, will investigate whether the program affected (1) long-term cumulative risk and (2) change in cumulative risk. Study 1 will also examine whether cumulative risk mediates the relationship between New Hope and children's externalizing and internalizing symptoms and school achievement and whether the relationships are moderated by developmental period and/or gender. Study 2 will combine quantitative methods with qualitative methods to examine (1) the key processes that distinguish families that experience increases in risk from those that experience decreases in risk and (2) how reductions or increases in specific risk factors came about. [unreadable] [unreadable]